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Too trusting in me, so sure she could keep her secrets without consequence. I stood over her and watched her sleep. My hand balled into a fist to keep from reaching out and touching her.
If I allowed my needs to control me, I’d climb into bed, split her thighs, and fuck my frustration out on her.
“Sleep well, little mouse.” Tomorrow we’d marry.
Tonight, she still had a lesson to learn. In her sleep, would she wonder if I’d taken Francesca to bed? Would the idea of another woman touching me claw at her sanity the way talons of rage tore at me?
Thoughts of anyone touching or tasting her twisted in my gut. In a moment of anger, I’d made the decision to inflict another fatal blow to the trust between us. Now, Francesca was here, but I still wasn’t done punishing my little mouse.
I left her to sleep alone, crossed the hall, and opened the door to Francesca’s room.
As the door clicked shut, she leaned up onto her elbow. “Marco?”
I crossed to the bed and sat on the edge.
Francesca rose to her knees. She kissed my neck, running her fingers into my hair. “Amor mio.”My love.
There was no love between us. There were no misconceptions about our relationship. But there were assumptions that needed correcting. I covered her hand with mine. “No. I need to talk to you.”
Still holding my hand, she pivoted, sitting next to me. I stayed silent, staring at our joined fingers as she feathered her thumb over the scars on my knuckles.
Francesca’s wide eyes searched mine. “She isn’t what I expected,” she said. The soft, familiar lilt of her voice whispered to me. “I don’t want to make you upset, but she doesn’t understand her duties as your wife.”
Long black lashes swept over warm chocolate eyes. Those eyes had seen me covered in blood, lurking in my own personal dark rage, when I was high on violence and needed to rut my release.
I didn’t turn to Francesca for comfort, didn’t allow myself the luxury of softened emotions. I fucked her hard and brutally.
However, she was no longer the one I wanted at my mercy. “You know me, dolcezza.” Using her nickname,sweetness, left a sour taste in my mouth. Another reason I was here, in her room instead of next to Allegra. Because there was only one pet I wanted to fuck, and she was just discovering her place in my life. There was no room for Francesca in my bed.
“I do know you.” She brought my hand to her lips. “You need a woman with fire in your bed. Allegra is beautiful, but she’s a child. Marry her if you have to, but don’t pretend that she can ever understand you.”
She was right. I wouldn’t be content with a docile wife, or worse, a manipulative bitch like Elise or Giada. But she was wrong about Allegra.
I unlaced our fingers. “She’s just like me, Francesca. She’s not a child.” I stood and crossed to the window, staring into the darkness of the night. “She’s defiant, stubborn, and fucking loyal to her own detriment. I made the mistake of underestimating her. I suggest you not do the same.”
“What do you want from me? Did you bring me here to show me how much you care for your wife?”
I bowed my head and repeated the words used to describe Allegra. “I’m stubborn, defiant, and apparently loyal to my own detriment. I made vows to her. I promised fidelity.”
The bedding rustled. A moment later, she was next to me, comfortable and familiar, but not the woman I wanted.
“That’s why you were angry with me?” she asked, referring to the night she was in bed with me in Italy.
I nodded. Allegra had opened my eyes. I wanted her for my wife, wanted my hands around her throat, and my cock deep in her heat. Nothing could come between us.
Including Francesca.
I fucking hated the Irish bastard who had a secret connection to Allegra. I wanted to cut out his heart, bathe in his blood, and fuck my wife with his corpse at my feet.
Her loyal fucking heart wasn’t just mine.
“She pushed, and I wanted to punish her by having you in my bed.”
Her hands slipped around my waist. “Then come to bed. I miss you.”
I cupped her cheek. “I can’t.”
She leaned into my touch. “You live by your own rules, Marco. Marry Allegra, but I know she won’t be enough for you.” She plucked at the closure of my belt. “Does she know what happened between us?”
